1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of devices for use in the open spinning of textile materials and particularly to the fabrication of comber roll heads. More specifically, the present invention relates to disposable beater rolls. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and articles of such character.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Comber rolls, also known in the art as beater and picker rolls, used in the processing of textile materials consist of a cylindrical core having a toothed wire secured to the peripheral portion thereof. The toothed wire, known in the art as the "clothing", is spiraled about the cylinder axis. The comber rolls furnished by original textile equipment manufacturers are metallic and, because of their composition and method of manufacture, are comparatively expensive components. The service life of presently available comber rolls is frequently quite short because of wear or damage to the card clothing wire. It is, accordingly, common practice to attempt to refurbish the comber rolls. This refurbishing operation requires that the textile mill remove the roll from the machine and this is often a difficult task. The roll is thereafter renovated by removal of the card clothing wire and replacement with a new wire. Due to the difficulty of removal of the card clothing wire from the comber roll core, for reasons which will be briefly discussed below, the refurbishing of comber rolls is a time consuming and expensive task which is customarily performed by specialized contractors rather than the textile mill.
As noted above, the comber rolls supplied by original equipment manufacturers comprise a cylindrically shaped core, which has been machined from metal, and a toothed card clothing wire secured in a spiral arrangement on the peripheral portion of the core. The typical method of mounting the wire on the core is to cut a spiral groove in the periphery of the core and wind the toothed wire in this groove under tension. Thereafter, the wire is secured in place by any of several methods which can generally be described as "caulking". Thus, by way of example, the card clothing wire may be secured in the groove on the core by deforming the metal of the periphery of the core against the wire after it has been positioned in the spiral groove. Should the card clothing wire become damaged, thus necessitating that the comber roll be "re-clothed", the spiral groove in the periphery of the core will typically be turned off, a new groove cut in the core and the core thereafter rewired. As will be obvious, each time a comber roll is re-clothed its diameter is reduced and this fact limits both the number of possible re-clothings and has a deleterious effect on the ability to adjust the position of the comber roll when installed in the textile machinery.
Comber rolls are also known wherein a filler strip is mounted in the spiral groove on the core and the card clothing wire is, in turn, either held in the filler strip or between the turns of the strip which self-defines a second spiral groove. If the card clothing wire is seated against the periphery of the core between turns of the filler strip, the wire will be held on the core by means of upsetting the filler strip. While this type of comber roll has certain advantages insofar as the useful service life of the part is concerned, it is generally not favored since manufacturing problems, which will not be discussed herein, usually preclude the manufacture of an end product wherein the card clothing wire projects a uniform distance from the axis of the core. Additionally, problems have been encountered in securely fastening the ends of the filler strip to the core in a manner in which permits the removal thereof without damaging the core during a refurbishing operation.
The above generally discussed comber roll designs are exemplary of the state of the art only and those skilled in the art will understand that numerous other designs have been tried. All prior approaches to comber roll design have been characterized by the use of a machined metal core and, regardless of the manner in which the card clothing wire was retained on the core, expensive and time consuming re-clothing. Additionally, use of a machined metal core has resulted in a product which is initially comparatively expensive and which is also comparatively heavy. The weight of prior art comber rolls, in turn, has resulted in a degree of wear on the driving parts, including drive shaft bearings, which the industry has long sought to reduce. Also, the weight of prior comber rolls has limited the rotational speed which could safely be imparted thereto. The metal construction of the prior art has additionally made it difficult to balance the parts. All of the above briefly discussed problems have resulted in generally unacceptable machine down time and, taking down time and both initial and comber roll refurbishing cost into account, a significant economic penalty.